Moscow's retaliatory measures to Sweden's NATO accession will depend on nature of country's integration with NATO - Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW. Jan 26 (Interfax) - Russia will take retaliatory measures in response to Sweden's accession to NATO, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

The content of these measures will depend on the nature of the country's integration with NATO, she said.

"Sweden's accession to NATO will have an extremely negative impact on the level of stability in Northern Europe [and] in the Baltic region," Zakharova told a briefing on Friday.

"Giving up long-standing policies of military non-alignment and joining a bloc that is openly hostile to Russia is unlikely to increase the feeling of security among the Swedish general public," she said.

"We will take retaliatory political and military-technical measures to deter threats to our country's defense capability. We will decide on their specific content depending on what measures will be taken during Sweden's integration with NATO, including the possible installation of NATO strike systems, weapons and forces on the territory of this country," Zakharova said.

Sweden applied for NATO membership in 2022. As a member of the alliance, Turkey set conditions that Stockholm needs to fulfil for Ankara to ratify its accession. The Turkish authorities completed the process of ratifying Sweden's accession to NATO at the end of this week.

Hungary remains the only NATO member that has not ratified Sweden's membership. However, Budapest has repeatedly said it will be ready to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO as soon as Turkey does so.